Saturday papers – 15 June 2019

Boris

He’s the way-out-in-front leader and the Telegraph claims he may be ‘crowned’ rather than ‘elected.

Boris Johnson’s name could be the only one that goes forward to the party’s membership in the Conservative leadership election under a secret plan to avoid four weeks of damaging Tory bloodletting.
Senior Cabinet ministers who are not linked to any of the six contenders in the campaign are examining whether Mr Johnson’s name alone might forward to a “confirmatory” vote of the party’s 160,000 members.
The plan was hatched in the whips office amid concerns from party grandees that weeks of “blue on blue” attacks during a prolonged hustings battle will leave the eventual winner weakened and provide ammunition for Jeremy Corbyn.

SENIOR Tories have launched a desperate bid to derail Boris Johnson’s march to No.10 – by telling MPs he can’t be trusted on anything from Brexit to Heathrow’s new runway.
The Sun can reveal Cabinet Ministers are among a band of Tories highlighting his flip flopping on No Deal, drugs, and even Turkey’s membership of the EU.

PHILIP Hammond has rejected Boris Johnson as a candidate for Britain’s new Prime Minister and threatened to quit his role as Chancellor if the Brexiteer gets the job.
Mr Hammond said he would not serve under a prime minister who was prepared to leave the EU without a deal, as proposed by Mr Johnson and other contenders to become the next leader of the Conservative Party.

And Huffington Post claims in an exclusive report that left-wingers will rebel against no-deal.

The UK faces wildcat strikes and civil disobedience if Boris Johnson commits to a no-deal Brexit as prime minister, a group of campaigners have warned.
HuffPost UK has learnt that a coalition of left-wing activists will launch a “summer of resistance” in a bid to “make the country ungovernable” if the next prime minister tries to rip the UK from Europe with no agreement.

Tory leadership

At the moment there are other candidates in the race. The Telegraph reports that Raab thinks he can win.

Dominic Raab believes Boris Johnson can be beaten in the race for Downing Street because Tory members will turn their backs on the “privileged elite” vying for power.
As a grammar school boy and the son of a refugee, the former Brexit secretary remains convinced he can overhaul the “easily caricatured” front-runner once his “mettle” is tested in public debates.

Five candidates vying to be the next prime minister are spending the weekend figuring out how best to take on the runaway leader in the race – Boris Johnson.
All six remaining candidates will take questions from grassroots Tory members today at a hustings in Westminster organised by the National Conservative Convention.

Brexit

Boris Johnson has claimed he can force the EU to deliver a fresh Brexit deal because it is terrified by the “existential threat” of Nigel Farage, as he finally agreed to a major interview.
The clear favourite for No 10 said the solution was “obvious” – to strip the Irish backstop out of the divorce agreement – and that Brussels would fold, despite its repeated refusal to do so.

Boris Johnson has come under fire at home and abroad after breaking cover to reveal his Brexit plan, while admitting he will duck a live TV debate.
The overwhelming favourite to be prime minister next month was ridiculed for claiming a fear of Nigel Farage would force Brussels to grant him a better deal – with one senior EU figure saying: “No one is scared of him.”
“The Conservative Party may be being held hostage to Nigel Farage, but the EU never will be,” Sophie in ’t Veld, deputy to the European parliament’s chief Brexit negotiator, told The Independent before condemning Mr Johnson’s “populist lies”.

Boris Johnson is serious about delivering Brexit but he’ll probably only be able to do this by calling an early General Election in October and by reaching an accommodation with The Brexit Party’s leader Nigel Farage.
So says Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen in an exclusive interview with Breitbart News.
Bridgen is a leading member of the European Research Group (ERG), the hardcore of Brexiteers — aka the Spartans — who mostly refused to accede to Theresa May’s Withdrawal Agreement because it didn’t deliver meaningful Brexit.

BORIS Johnson yesterday warned any further Brexit delay will “run up the white flag” to Brussels.
In his first broadcast interview of the Tory leadership race, the frontrunner to succeed Theresa May said “fortitude and determination” were needed in the negotiations with the EU. And he vowed to “honour the will of the people” by getting the UK out of the EU this autumn with or without a deal.

The government is in “pretty good shape” to cope with a no-deal Brexit, the head of civil service has said.
Speaking at an event organised by the Institute for Government, Cabinet Secretary Sir Mark Sedwill said there had been “a lot of preparation”.
He said: “We have got the government in pretty good shape and public services in pretty good shape for it”.

The Head of the Civil Service and Cabinet Secretary, Sir Mark Sedwill, has said that the UK is in “pretty good shape” when it comes to exiting the European Union without a deal on WTO terms.
Even the BBC have quoted Sir Mark as saying at an Institute for Government event: “We have got the government in pretty good shape and public services in pretty good shape for it.”

The likelihood Britain and the European Union part ways without a deal has jumped in the past month, according to economists in a Reuters poll, as most candidates jockeying to take over as prime minister appear to have adopted a hard line stance.
Three years on since Britons voted to leave the EU, there is still little clarity as to how, when or even if the two sides will draw a line under Britain’s four-decades of membership.

But our own chancellor claims we should pay the ‘divorce bill’ says the Independent.

Philip Hammond has warned the candidates for the Tory leadership that they should stand by Britain’s “obligation” to pay the £39 billion Brexit divorce bill negotiated by Theresa May.
In a veiled attack on Boris Johnson, who threatened to withhold the financial settlement payment as leverage for further Brexit concessions, the Chancellor said he “would not recommend” that a future leader renege on the commitment to the EU.

EU

A UK government led by Boris Johnson could not be dragged through the courts if it refused to pay the country’s multibillion-pound Brexit bill, the EU’s German budget chief has admitted, but Britain’s economy, security and universities would be made to suffer.
Günther Oettinger, European commissioner for the EU’s finances, linked the settling of Britain’s debts as agreed by Theresa May to Brussels’ approach to the prospects of the country retaining any kind of beneficial relationship with the bloc.

European Union negotiators do not believe Boris Johnson’s Tory leadership promise to deliver Brexit by October 31, according to senior Brussels sources.
Political planning in Brussels is now based on the assumption that Britain will not leave the EU on the present deadline, itself an extension from the original date of March 29.

The bloc is insistent that we’ll suffer under ‘no-deal’, says the Independent.

EU officials are working on the basis that the UK economy will be hit up to 10 times harder by a no-deal Brexit than the continent’s, the latest analysis by the European Commission shows.
The working assumption in Brussels is bad news for Tory leadership contenders like Boris Johnson, who are hoping to use the threat of a no-deal Brexit as part of their strategy for renegotiating Theresa May’s Brexit deal.
But with the EU convinced that the UK will fare much worse than the continent if it decides to crash out, the brinkmanship may struggle to produce results.

The Times reports there could be thousands of European criminals here.

A record number of European criminals are suspected of being on the run in Britain.
The UK received 17,256 European arrest warrants last year for suspects wanted by police elsewhere in the EU, including 619 people wanted for murder or manslaughter, 229 suspected rapists and 265 suspected paedophiles, an analysis of National Crime Agency (NCA) figures has revealed.

Election fraud

Fraud in the Peterborough by-election is being investigated, reports Breitbart.

Police are investigating five allegations of electoral fraud during the Peterborough by-election, which The Brexit Party lost to Labour by a narrow margin of fewer than 700 votes.
Cambridgeshire Police have confirmed that one allegation relates to bribery and corruption, three to postal vote fraud, and one breach of privacy of votes.
According to the Peterborough Telegraph one investigation involves “a message shared on social media allegedly showing someone bragging that he and two others had ‘burned more than 1,000 votes for the Brexit Party’”.

Labour Party

Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow cabinet is set to debate Brexit on Monday, as the prospect of a Boris Johnson premiership accelerates Labour’s drift towards supporting a second referendum.Corbyn is coming under renewed pressure to set out his backing for a fresh public vote more clearly, as the shockwaves from Labour’s catastrophic performance in the European elections continue to reverberate.
Shadow ministers will be shown the second part of a presentation on polling which began at last week’s meeting, and according to one person present showed Labour was being “squeezed from both sides”.

And a former PM desperate to get back into the news is quoted in BBC News.

Tony Blair has hit back at Jeremy Corbyn after the Labour leader questioned his predecessor’s commitment to tackling inequality while in power.
In a speech on Saturday announcing a shift in policy on social mobility, Mr Corbyn said “for decades we have been told that inequality does not matter”.
Mr Blair said it was the latest example of his government being grouped with Tory ones in “one unbroken line”.
“This is bad politics and worse history,” he said. “Enough is enough.”

LibDems

A former ChangeUK leader is back in favour but in a different party reports the Independent.

Chuka Umunna has landed the job of treasury and business spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats as the rivals to be the party’s new leader hailed his arrival as a “major contribution”.
It comes after the former Change UK MP joined Sir Vince Cable’s unashamedly pro-EU party, claiming last night that Labour and the Tories were “committed to facilitating Brexit”.

Former Labour and Change UK MP Chuka Umunna has defended his refusal to call a by-election after he changed party again to join the Liberal Democrats.
The London MP said he did not go back to his constituents because “they don’t have a problem with what I’m doing because they know what my values are and what I believe in”.
He added: “I haven’t had people in the street and having a go at me there might be the odd Momentum Corbynite but I can live with that.”

The Great Political Realignment

Only a majority in Parliament can change the UK. Bringing together hundreds of MPs takes work, compromise, and a common belief in the necessity of slow, hard grind. Since Boris Johnson won’t manage that… who will?
It won’t be Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party, about as competent at healing divisions as it has been able to translate the gobbledegook of a Labour Brexit.
There’s a huge political space and millions of stranded voters. Defining that space and making it stand for something positive could be an opportunity to redraw the map of 21st Century politics.

A new poll out today from YouGov has the Brexit Party polling in first place for a General Election, with the Liberal Democrats second.
Brexit lead on 26%, backed by a majority (56%) of Leavers for the next Westminster election.
The LibDems are second on 22%, with Labour third on 19% and the Tories a poor fourth on just 17%.
YouGov are now prompting for Brexit instead of hiding them under ‘other’.
It shows just how much British politics is shifting when Labour and the Conservatives are no longer the two most popular parties for the next General Election. And there could be one later this year.

Clean air

Elsewhere, some of the Tory leadership contenders are promising to give us good air, says the Times.

Three Conservative leadership hopefuls pledge today to give people the legal right to breathe clean air as one of their first acts as prime minister.
Backing this newspaper’s campaign for a Clean Air Act, Jeremy Hunt, Michael Gove and Rory Stewart all promise to bring in legally binding air quality targets in their first Queen’s Speech.
The commitment will raise pressure on the other candidates to support new legislation as part of their campaigns to lead the country.

Politicians could end up in court for failing to protect their citizens from air pollution, according to the UN’s top public health official.
Maria Neira compared the crisis over air pollution to the asbestos scandal, in which governments were accused of failing to act quickly enough to save lives despite knowing the risks.
In an interview with The Times, the director of the World Health Organisation’s Department of Public Health, Environmental and Social Determinants of Health, said that delaying action on the sources of air pollution, such as road traffic and wood burning in urban areas, would cost thousands of lives.

Flooding

A military helicopter has been deployed to assist stranded residents after a river burst its banks following heavy rainfall which caused disruption to several parts of the country.
A Chinook helicopter was deployed in the town of Wainfleet to drop sand in an attempt to stop the flow of water after the River Steeping experienced a breach.
Lincolnshire County Council said the town had more than two months of rain in just two days.

Listeria

An urgent review of hospital food has been ordered following the deaths of five people that have been linked to listeria poisoning in sandwiches and salads served at NHS hospitals.
Public Health England (PHE) confirmed yesterday the total number of deaths related to pre-packaged products had risen from three, and a total of nine cases of poisoning had been confirmed.
Matt Hancock, the health secretary, last night said he was “incredibly concerned” and had ordered a “root and branch” review of NHS food.

TWO more patients have died after eating hospital sandwiches and contracting listeria in England, it was announced today.
This brings the total death toll up to five.Six people were diagnosed with listeria, a bacteria found in unpasteurised dairy products, at hospitals in England last week.
Of those six patients, three died and now another one of those six patients has since sadly died too.
Three subsequent cases of listeria have been identified in patients, one of whom has died.

A Tory leadership contender has ordered an inquiry, says the ITV News.

A “root and branch” review of NHS food has been ordered by the Health Secretary after two more patient deaths were linked to a listeria outbreak.
Matt Hancock said he was “incredibly concerned” after it emerged the patients were suspected of dying after eating pre-packaged sandwiches and salads linked by the same supplier, The Good Food Chain, bringing the number of suspected fatalities to five.
The affected products have since been withdrawn from hospitals and Public Health England (PHE) said evidence suggested all the deaths had occurred before the items were removed from circulation on May 25.

NHS

Elsewhere in the NHS, the Telegraph reports a problem in the blood donor service.

Blood donors are being turned away as a new NHS online booking system causes chaos, an investigation today reveals.
Health chiefs scrapped “bloodmobiles”, which used to visit high streets and workplaces, in 2017 and switched to an appointment-only model which does not allow “walk in” visits.
But members of the public who have given blood for decades say they have struggled to use the online system, or booked their slot only to find that when they turned up it had been cancelled.

Heathrow

New plans to build Heathrow’s third runway over the M25 have been drawn up as the airport prepares to stagger its huge expansion over three decades to minimise disruption.
The Times has learnt that Heathrow will propose a new runway and parallel taxiways over one of the country’s busiest roads.
Images released by the airport indicate that the M25, which widens to 12 lanes past Heathrow, would be rebuilt in a tunnel west of its present route.
Two openings in the tunnel between the taxiways and runway would improve stability, ventilation and visibility on the road.

Beer

BEER lovers will face a drought this summer after lorry drivers voted in favour of strike action.
Ale deliveries to some big pub chains are set to be crippled by the decision.
More than 100 truckers and driver’s mates from drinks logistics giant Tradeteam will walk out in protest at their “unmanageable loads”.
Draymen serving Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and the Midlands voted “overwhelmingly” to down tools, said union chiefs.

About The Author

Debbie has been a journalist for longer than she cares to admit! She has been freelance for the last 15 years and is deputy editor on INDEPENDENCE Daily, specialising in covering the morning press each day.

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3 Comments

T G Spokes
on June 15, 2019 at 8:25 pm

BEWARE

Our candisate PMs are talking of Deleting the Backstop, And then passing what remains.

But what remains is stuffed with references to ECJ,( Justice). ECHR, ( Human rights.). CJEU ( Includes international disputes ), Generalcourt, ECA ( Court of Auditors,).. Grand chamber ( A sort of seperate court/tribunal to declare on constitutional or complex cases.) and the Hague ( Maritime set up by Brit and USA in 1950s ( I think ) .Anyway being subject to creeping takeover by EU ever since and creeping control of charts ,signals, marks etc etc etc more creep . )

thus deleting Habeas corpus, the British constitution , Magna Carta, Trinity House etc centuries of case law,,And everything else British that they can claim eg :- The laws of gravity etc discovered by that well known European E Newton..ANd much else from British standards rewritten in mm . to le tunnel ,or HS2 ( European invention of railways )

They’ll have to change history ( theirs ) and lots of signs like Obamas glacier signs.

I think if there is one thing about the eu that annoys me most, it is the assumption that something thought of today must be better than something that has been argued over for many years.

Michael Keal
on June 15, 2019 at 11:57 am

From Across the Pond:

Some inconvenient truth.

They’re having to change the signs at glacier national park because those pesky glaciers are not co-operating with the climate crooks. They’re not melting! Oh Bummer!